


Dope and Diamonds

by UnrememberedSkies



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Alcohol, Bullying, Discussion of Exchanging Sex for Drugs, Drug Addiction, Drug Use, Drunk Kissing/Groping, F/M, Gen, Humiliation, Klaus Hargreeves Whump, Klaus and Allison are not perfect, Klaus and Allison both have valid points, M/M, Rich Douchebags, Sexism Mention, They have a lot of growing up to do, racism mention
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-17
Updated: 2020-01-17
Packaged: 2021-02-27 10:26:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,903
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22295530
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UnrememberedSkies/pseuds/UnrememberedSkies
Summary: Not one of Klaus's siblings could make him feel worse about his life situation than his beautiful, perfect, movie star sister, Allison. It seems the lower Klaus sinks, the higher Allison rises. Despite everything, Klaus wouldn't describe himself as bitter, but seeing Allison again brings an onslaught of unpleasant feelings that Klaus can't even begin to untangle. Instead, Klaus does what Klaus does best - throws himself headfirst into a situation that can only end badly.
Relationships: Allison Hargreeves & Klaus Hargreeves
Comments: 26
Kudos: 146





	Dope and Diamonds

**Author's Note:**

> My first fic of the decade! I decided to go back to my roots and write about these two gorgeous, messed-up idiots. Klaus and Allison are about 21 here. Find me on [Tumblr](https://unrememberedskies.tumblr.com/)! Fic title from Lana del Rey's 'Money Power Glory', which is a big early Allison mood.

Klaus ducked into the alleyway, glancing around furtively as he pulled the plastic baggie from his underwear. He held it with trembling fingers, separating the two white pills inside, as though if he stared at them hard enough, they would multiply before his eyes.

“Not enough,” he muttered to himself.

“Seems like plenty to me,” Ben said, leaning against the grimy wall with his arms folded. He didn’t grace Klaus with a look.

“Didn’t ask you,” Klaus hissed, turning the bag over and over in his hands.

“Foregoing whole sentences all together, now, I see.”

Klaus dragged his gaze away from the pills to glare at Ben, before tucking them back into his pants. His eyes flickered from side to side as he thought. “Could go to Jason, he’s sweet on me.”

“You don’t have any money,” Ben reminded him. “And if you did, you should spend it on food.”

Klaus wagged his finger at him, grinning. “Don’t need money with Jason, Benny-boy.”

Ben pressed his lips together and said nothing. Klaus took that as permission. He emerged from the alleyway onto the street. It was getting dark, and the day crowd was thinning to make way for the night one.

Jason’s apartment was fifteen blocks away, and Klaus’s ratty old shoes had a hole in the sole. Still, the single-minded determination which came with securing his next high kept him going, and he soon found himself climbing the piss-stained concrete steps up to his occasional dealer’s base of operations.

Klaus rapped on the door, casting a glance at Ben as he waited, noting the wrinkling of his brother’s nose. “You can’t even smell it!”

“No, but I can imagine the smell and that’s basically the same thing.”

Klaus rolled his eyes, turning back to the door as it opened a crack to reveal Jason peering through at him.

“Oh, hey, Klaus,” he said, glancing past him to see if he was alone. Ben gave a little wave that he couldn’t see.

“Hey, Jace, long time, man.” He stepped in as Jason opened the door wider to him, pressing up against his body just a little bit more than necessary.

To his annoyance, Jace moved away, sitting back down on his brown, threadbare couch, to carry on rolling his joint. “What are you after?”

“Oh, you know,” Klaus said coyly. “Just a little bag of something special.”

“Sure,” Jason said, nodding. “Ten dollars a pill. How much you got?”

Klaus sucked in air through his teeth, edged over to the couch to perch beside Jason. “I’m a bit short on cash, at the moment.”

Jason gave him a sideways glance that didn’t look even remotely surprised. “That’s rough, man. There’s nothing I can do for you.”

“Maybe there’s something I can do for you,” Klaus said, resting his hand on Jason’s crotch.

Jason took hold of his wrist and moved it from its position, depositing it back on Klaus’s lap. “No can do.”

Klaus felt his heart descend into his stomach as he felt his last hope slip away. “Come on,” he coaxed. “You know I can show you a good time.”

“Can’t run a business on good times,” Jason said, unusually immune to Klaus’s clumsy attempts at seduction. Jason never said ‘no.’ He was soft for Klaus, damn it.

“Come on,” Klaus said, trying to keep the desperation out of his voice. “You know I’ll do anything.”

“Then give me the cash.” Klaus stared at him, and Jason snorted, standing up and making his way over to the kitchenette. “Didn’t think so.”

“I can get you cash,” Klaus said. “Just give me something for tonight, and I’ll get you it in the morning. You know I’m good for it.”

“See, that’s the thing, Klaus. You’re not good for it. You’re never good for it.” Jason turned around and leaned against the counter, the tip of the newly lit joint glowing enticingly. “And I’m sick of being paid in sloppy blowjobs.”

“Sloppy,” Klaus repeated. This was a nightmare. This was a fucking nightmare. He stared at Jace for a little longer, trying not to grind his teeth into dust. “Fine,” he spat, turning on his heel and storming out of the flat.

His anger carried him all the way back down the stinking stairs and out onto the street. It was beginning to rain. As the first drops hit his face, the anger escaped him like air from a punctured balloon. He just felt tired, and jittery, and sick.

“Shut up,” he said, startling a woman who was walking past him. She hurried away, glancing nervously over her shoulder at him.

“I didn’t say anything,” Ben said quietly.

“I can hear you judging me, and I’m sick of it.” He lit a cigarette, taking three tries because his hands were shaking so badly.

“You should get out of the rain,” Ben said, in that same quiet voice that sounded far too much like pity for Klaus’s liking. Yeah, pity the guy who can’t even get a few pills out of some sad ugly dealer because apparently his blowjobs are ‘sloppy.’

Klaus scowled, and started making his way down the street, leaving Ben to catch up with him. He didn’t have much idea where he was going, but muscle memory was apparently his friend because his legs took him a several blocks away from Jason’s, to the much nicer, newly gentrified part of town.

Down here the paint on the railings wasn’t peeling, and the glass at bus stop wasn’t smashed in. It was mostly luxury apartments and converted lofts, occupied by the young and the beautiful and the rich.

Klaus kept out of the rain by standing beneath a bus shelter, puffing on his cigarette and eying the dark windows of the apartments contemplatively.

Ben seemed to realise what was going through his head. “Klaus, no.”

Klaus smirked. “Klaus, yes,” he said, around his cigarette.

“You are going to end up in prison. This is insane.”

“Only if I get caught.”

Ben rolled his eyes. “You are most definitely going to get caught.”

“Oh, ye of little faith,” Klaus said, walking slowly along the sidewalk, checking each apartment for loose windows or dodgy locks.

“Oh, me of hanging around with you for four years and knowing exactly what you’re like.” Ben hurried ahead so he could face Klaus, walking backwards as Klaus continued to prowl. Klaus almost envied him not having to look where he was going, Klaus tripped over _everything_. “Seriously, Klaus. It’s one thing robbing potato chips from a convenience store. If you rob one of these apartments, they will lock you up and throw away the key.”

“Guaranteed bed, three square meals a day, and a steady supply of illicit substances with the expectation of alternative payment. Sounds great, sign me up.”

Ben stopped abruptly, and Klaus had to dodge to avoid walking through him. He overbalanced and flailed momentarily before steadying himself, shooting a glare at Ben.

Ben looked exasperated. “See? You’re uncoordinated and desperate. That is not a good combination, Klaus. Let’s just go and find a nice dry shelter, get a good night’s sleep, and we’ll brainstorm a plan in the morning.”

Klaus wasn’t listening, his attention was caught by the sight of a familiar figure climbing out a car further down the street. “Is that Allison?”

For a moment, Ben looked annoyed, like he thought Klaus was lying to distract him, but then he seemed to notice the intensity of Klaus’s gaze and turned to look himself.

She looked stunning. She had coloured her hair so her perfect curls shone gold in the light of the street lamp. She was wearing a strappy sapphire blue dress that accentuated her every curve, and black heels that she walked effortlessly in, as easily as Klaus walked barefoot. She was statuesque and sublime amongst the women she was with, like a god amongst mortals. Her smile was wide and her laugh free, but even from this distance, Klaus could see the clever glint in her eye as she measured and evaluated the situation and the people she was with. Always watching, always in control.

“She looks incredible,” Ben breathed.

Klaus felt white hot jealousy settle in his chest.

He couldn’t speak for a moment, only stare at this goddess of a woman, his _sister_ , who he had painted nails with, who he’d laughed at their brothers with, who’d brushed out his curls and held his face in her hands as she’d applied makeup with gentle, sure strokes. The only one of his siblings he’d ever even wanted to compete with. He’d never be strong like Luther, or skilled like Diego, or even talented like Vanya. But he had thought, back before the drugs, when he was still fresh-faced and bright-eyed, that he could be beautiful like Allison, hold the attention of a room like Allison, draw people in with a quick smile and clever words like Allison.

She was with three women who were all enchanted by her, hanging on to her every word, who practically glowed when they had her attention. As she climbed the steps to the apartment, she threw a laugh over her shoulder and it was so natural and so graceful, so utterly unaffected, and yet, if someone were to take a picture now, Klaus was sure it would be the perfect angle, in perfect lighting.

“Klaus?” Ben sounded hesitant. “Are you okay?”

Klaus swallowed, watching as the door opened and Allison and her entourage swept into one of the apartments. The door closed behind them, and Klaus’s mind was already on the sophistication and luxury of what lay beyond that door.

He glanced back at Ben. “New plan,” he said, false cheer straining his voice. “We’re going to party with our favourite sister.”

Ben closed his eyes, and seemed to count to ten before replying. “Somehow this is worse than the breaking and entering plan.”

Klaus waggled his eyebrows at him, pulled the baggie from his pants, and swallowed down one of his two precious pills.

* * *

Klaus took a deep gulp from the bottle of vodka he had swiped from the crates of alcohol stacked up in the service corridor. Maybe if he wanted to fit in better with the other guests he should find a glass, but really, who had the time?

Charming the guy at the door had been wholly unsuccessful, and Klaus’s ego had taken yet another beating. Fortunately, he had found a service entrance, and Ben had been a ghostly scout, making sure he wasn’t spotted by anyone as he essentially broke in. Despite his very much vocalised disapproval of Klaus’s actions, he was always a good sport when it came to that sort of thing.

“You are terrible,” he’d muttered, although he sounded more impressed than annoyed. Klaus had preened.

Now he was in, and it was even more lovely and luxurious that he could have dreamed. Strings of soft lights hung along the ceilings and walls, giving the vast, open-plan apartment a warm glow, that made even Klaus’s sallow complexion look healthy.

There was a woman with a haunting, soulful voice singing at the far end of the apartment, her voice floating through the milling guests like the whisper of the wind, enchanting everyone it touched. Klaus swayed dreamily, lost in the sound of her voice and the rush of the high as the oxy kicked in. He closed his eyes, clutching the stolen bottle of vodka to his chest.

He collided heavily with someone, and his eyes fluttered open as he gave a wonky smile at the woman, who in turn gave him a dirty look. She muttered something to the man she was with and they both cast a glance back at Klaus before walking off.

Klaus stuck his tongue out at their retreating backs. “Assholes.” Ben made a noise that he took as agreement. “Do you think everyone is as unfriendly here?”

Ben didn’t reply. Klaus didn’t press the matter further, as he was distracted by the sight of man walking past carrying a tray of dainty edible treats. “Canapes!” he said, snagging the waiter’s attention. He helped himself to a selection, tucking them into the crook of his elbow in order to carry more. “I can never just have one, y’know,” he said to the bemused waiter.

Once he had nearly emptied the platter, he turned away, looking for somewhere to enjoy his meal. Ben hadn’t been wrong: he couldn’t remember the last time he had eaten, but he suspected it had been a couple of days. And Klaus was never one to turn down free food.

He tucked himself into a discreet corner, perched on a stool at a small table that looked like it was falling apart but mostly likely cost hundreds of dollars. He shoved the canapes whole into his mouth, allowing himself a little moan at the complement of delicate flavours. God, he missed nice food. He’d forgotten food could taste of anything other than grease and sugar.

“You’re acting like an animal,” Ben said, his arms folded and looking utterly determined not to enjoy any aspect of this.

“I’m hungry,” Klaus protested, mouth full. Ben turned away.

“Hey there.” Klaus looked up at the girl stood in front of him. She was tall and skinny, and her pupils were pinpricks. Klaus gave her a wide grin. Birds of a feather, and all that.

“Hey,” he said. “Wanna canape?”

“God yes,” she said, taking the proffered treat with the eagerness of a child. “So, are you one of Richard’s friends? I haven’t seen you at one of these things before.”

She nibbled on the canape like a little rabbit, and Klaus felt a rush of warmth towards her like he always did with girls who were all bones and track marks. Only this girl’s dress was more expensive than anything the girls on the street wore. If she got into bad habits, no doubt daddy would get her booked into some fancy rehab with a flash of his Amex Black Card. Still, this girl had the same air of fragility about her that brought out Klaus’s protective instincts.

“Oh, no. We haven’t met yet. I’m actually the brother of one of the other guests. Allison Hargreeves, know her?”

The girl nodded excitedly. “We’ve met once or twice. She’s, like, really big right now, isn’t she?”

“So I hear,” Klaus said, grinning at her exuberance. He watched as she continued to nibble, only halfway through what was barely a mouthful as far as Klaus was concerned.

“And she was in that cute little Umbrella thing as a kid.”

Klaus balked slightly at the idea of the Umbrella Academy being anything remotely resembling cute. He’d just set his smile back on and was about to respond when an apparition of blue and gold entered his vision.

The girl beamed as Allison joined them. “Hey, Allison, it’s so good to see you again!” They exchanged perfunctory cheek kisses, and Klaus raised an eyebrow at Allison, which she ignored. “I was just talking to your brother about you!”

“Don’t believe a word he says,” Allison replied, deadpan, and the girl laughed. The look in Allison’s eyes suggested she wasn’t joking. “Klaus, can I speak with you in private?”

Klaus slid off his stool, throwing the girl a bright smile, before trotting dutifully after his sister. She led him into a bathroom that was practically the size of Jason’s apartment, and before Klaus realised what was happening, he was being shoved up against the closed door.

“Mm, I was hoping to get pressed up against a wall tonight,” he said, with a lopsided grin.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” Allison hissed. Her veneer of effortless charm had disappeared and was replaced by a level of anger Klaus didn’t think the situation quite warranted.

Klaus shrugged out of her grip and she took a step back, her posture rigid. “Is it so unbelievable that I might have been invited?”

Allison folded her arms. “Were you?”

Klaus blinked at her. “That’s not the point.” He caught her raised eyebrow and suddenly felt the need to defend himself, remind her that he hadn’t always been this much of a sad sack. “There was a time when I couldn’t move for invitations to these sorts of things, you know. People buying me drinks, giving me drugs for free. Everybody wanted a piece of the Séance.”

“I’m sure they did. That doesn’t change the fact that you’re gate-crashing a party you weren’t invited to.”

“How did you even know I was here?” Klaus asked, bewildered. “I was keeping a low profile.”

“Someone mentioned there was a random junkie hanging around talking to himself. I put two and two together.”

Klaus ignored the sting of those particular words. “Well, that’s ridiculous. Lot’s of junkies talk to themselves; it could have been anyone.”

Allison rolled her eyes. “At a private party that I am at, in my hometown, for the first time in four years. Did you follow me here?”

Klaus couldn’t stand the look of exasperated accusation on her face, like he was some annoying fan who wouldn’t leave her alone. “I happened to be this side of town, and saw you, completely by coincidence, get out of your car. Fate brought us together.”

“Well I’m breaking us apart,” Allison said, taking his arm, ready to guide him out of the bathroom. “You need to leave.”

“Fifty dollars,” Klaus said, with a flash of inspiration.

Allison frowned. “Excuse me?”

“Fifty dollars will get me out of your hair. Which, by the way, is looking fabulous, what a bombshell.”

Allison’s expression darkened. “So you’re here to blackmail me.”

“Don’t be so melodramatic. Let’s just say I’m very open to bribery.” He squirmed under the weight of her glare. “Fine, forty.”

“You need to leave, Klaus, or I will make you leave.”

“Thirty! That’s my final offer. Thirty dollars and I will get out of your life forever. You never have to see me again.”

“I’m not giving you drug money,” Allison said, dragging him away from the door as she opened it. “Now, get out, before I Rumour you out.”

“Allison, I wondered where you’d got to.”

Klaus found himself face to face with an attractive man with kind brown eyes. He gave Klaus a bemused look before his gaze slid inevitably back to Allison, who was quickly smoothing out her expression. “Sorry, Patrick. I know I said I’d be right back.”

“Everything okay?” Patrick asked, looking back at Klaus with distrust.

“Everything’s fine,” said Allison, with a smile that both charmed and subdued. “My brother was just leaving.”

Klaus watched as she took Patrick’s arm and guided him away, with considerably more gentleness than she had offered Klaus. He stared after them, feeling vaguely sick.

“We should go,” Ben said, in a tone that suggested he already knew what the answer was going to be.

“Screw that,” Klaus said. “I’m going to enjoy the party.”

* * *

Several shots in, the room was beginning to blur and sway pleasantly. The lights seemed to bleed into one another, and reflected off jewellery and dresses, creating a beautiful abstract painting that Klaus was a part of. He looked at his own hands and they seemed to blur and smudge in front of him. He felt beautiful and abstract. Not himself.

He drifted between bodies, every brush against him burning pleasantly. The music was louder, more intense, and the room was heating up as people drank more and danced more. He danced with some people, whose faces were also smudged and blurred. He felt soft skin under his own hands and the warmth of other people’s palms on his own body.

He felt good, like he belonged in this beautiful world.

He was being watched, he could feel it, somewhere deep down in his subconscious. He pushed through the haziness to identify the source of the attention. His vision cleared a little as he identified a man, tall, with tousled hair. He was leaning against one of the settees, drink in his hand, watching Klaus with pretty, hazel eyes.

Klaus swayed up to him, preening beneath the man’s gaze. “Hi,” he said, coming to a wobbly stop before him. The man was wearing a pale blue shirt with the top buttons undone, his long legs, crossed at the ankle, were enclosed in tailored trousers, and his shoes were handsewn Italian leather. Klaus could tell at a glance.

“Hi,” the man said, voice low and confident. “Enjoying the party?”

Klaus grinned, fixated by the triangle of tanned chest that the unbuttoned shirt was revealing. “Much more now.” He reached out a hand, wanting to touch, before it dropped uselessly at his side.

“Remind me of your name again,” the man said, taking a sip of his drink, and watching Klaus with an intensity that made Klaus want to blush.

“Klaus,” he said, lifting his chin. “I’m kind of a big deal.”

The man smiled for the first time, a quirk of lips and crinkling of eyes. “Really?”

“Oh yeah,” Klaus said, nodding vehemently. “Super famous, super rich. I’m surprised you haven’t heard of me.”

“That’s my loss, then.” Klaus’s heart was thudding in his chest in a way that had nothing to do with the pills or the alcohol. This beautiful, well-dressed man was flirting with him. He was looking at Klaus like he wanted to eat him alive, and Klaus was going to let him. “My name’s Richard.”

The name triggered some vague recollection in Klaus’s hazy mind, and he screwed up his face as he tried to remember where he’d heard that name before. It suddenly dawned on him. “This is your party.” Richard nodded. Klaus glanced around. “You have a nice place.”

“Thank you.” Richard shifted his position on the back of the couch, uncrossing his ankles and leaning towards Klaus. “You know it’s polite, when you’re a guest in someone’s house, to bring something along. A gift of some sorts.”

Klaus was wondering whether it would be too forward to insinuate himself between Richard’s newly uncrossed legs, so it took him a moment to register what the man was saying. “I figured I was gift enough.”

He opened his arms, offering himself up. Richard laughed, low and sensual, and stood up, leaving his drink casually balanced on the back of the settee. He came to stand before Klaus, and _Oh God_ , Richard was taller than him. It was so hard to find men who were taller than him. Klaus tried not to swoon.

Richard brought one hand to his jaw to lift his chin, whilst his other slid around Klaus’s waist. Klaus clung to his upper arms, as Richard brought his mouth to his ear. “I think it’s only fair that I get to enjoy my gift, don’t you think?”

“God, yes,” Klaus groaned, his grip tightening as Richard’s mouth sank onto his, crowding into him, thumb stroking across his jaw.

Too drunk and high and uncoordinated to reciprocate much, Klaus just let Richard take what he wanted from his mouth, and made little humming noises to indicate how much he was enjoying himself. Richard didn’t seem to mind so much, or think he was at all _sloppy_.

He pulled away and Klaus moaned at the loss of contact. Richard took his hand. “Come over here,” he murmured, leading Klaus around the settee and pushing him gently down onto it. Klaus looked around blearily and noticed this wasn’t exactly a more private place. There were other people sat on the seats. Some were making out, but others were just chatting and drinking, and they looked up as the pair of them came over.

“Not shy, are you?” Richard asked as he pressed himself next to Klaus, half on the settee, half draped over him.

Klaus grinned. “Not even a little bit.”

“Good,” Richard said, leaning back in to kiss him, his hand going between Klaus’s legs. He rubbed at his crotch through the rough material of Klaus’s black jeans, and Klaus tried very hard not to hump up into his hand. “You’re so hot,” Richard murmured.

“Look who’s, _ngh_ , look who’s taking,” Klaus managed to get out, as Richard undid the button of his jeans and slid his hand into Klaus’s underwear. He stroked and Klaus writhed beneath his touch, barely registering the crinkle of plastic until Richard’s hand withdrew from his pants.

“You _did_ bring a party gift,” Richard said, and there was something wrong with his tone. It sounded playful but not a little bit mocking.

Klaus opened his eyes and immediately zoned in on the baggie held between Richard’s fingers, the precious round, white pill inside. The last of Klaus’s stash.

“Wait,” he said, his brain finally catching up. Richard wasn’t expecting to share it, was he? He could buy a hundred pills just like this one, but that was Klaus’s last one. He wouldn’t take it, would he?

“I can’t believe you’ve been holding out on me, Klaus.”

Klaus reached towards the baggie but Richard held it out of reach, laughing cruelly. “Please,” Klaus begged. “It’s my last one, please.”

“Then come and get it.”

Klaus swallowed, looked at Richard, and how his pretty hazel eyes were glinting with something cruel and malicious. He glanced about at the other people on the couches. Some of them were looking at the scene with mild interest, others carried on with what they were doing, completely unaware.

He pushed himself up from the couch and lurched towards the baggie, but Richard moved too, holding it even higher. “Please,” Klaus said, something cold shooting through his chest, “give it back. I need it.”

Richard laughed again, caught someone’s eye behind Klaus and threw the baggie over Klaus’s head. Klaus whirled round so fast he nearly sprained something, and saw another laughing man catch it. The man shook it enticingly at him and Klaus scrambled over the settee, half falling down the other side in his haste to reach his new tormentor.

As soon as he got close, though, the man threw it back to Jason, like they were playing some awful game of Keep Away. “Please,” Klaus begged, trying very hard not to cry. “Please give it back.”

“Richard, give it back to him.” Klaus turned in the direction of the woman’s voice, and saw her watching the scene with a look of vague discomfort on her face. She wasn’t quite the rescuer he’d been hoping for, outraged at this unjust treatment of him, but Klaus would take what he could get. When she caught him looking at her, she looked away.

“No,” Richard said. “This guy wanted so badly to come to this party. He can play some party games.” He held the bag out to Klaus, like he was going to hand it over.

Klaus lurched towards him, letting out a whine of unhappiness as it was once again snatched out of his reach. Richard tossed it to one of the other men seated on the settees. Klaus dashed towards him, only for the man to throw it to someone else.

Klaus followed it like a cat after a laser pointer, because there was nothing else he could do. He couldn’t take his eyes off that pill. If he lost it, that was it.

Eventually, the baggie got thrown over to the woman who had defended him, and for a moment, Klaus felt sweet relief course through him like a dose of heroin. Then her friend snatched it off her and tossed it back to Richard.

“Wow, Klaus. You’re looking really hot and bothered.”

Klaus stood before him and gave him a morose look, arms wrapped around himself.

“Think I should take pity on him?” There were several jeers, most of them sounding as though they very much disagreed with that idea.

“Please,” Klaus whispered, watching the pill with tired intensity.

Richard curled his lip, before opening the baggie and shaking the pill into his hand. Klaus edged forward, hands already reaching up to take it.

Richard tossed the pill over his shoulder, and Klaus gave a howl of despair before pushing past Richard and dropping to his hands and knees. He scrabbled around on the floor, patting the white rug as he searched for the pill.

Those beautiful Italian leather shoes came into his view, and suddenly there was an agonising pain shooting through his arm as Richard pressed his foot down on his hand. Klaus struggled to move, and Richard pressed harder, making Klaus’s knuckles creak.

With his free hand, he gripped Richard’s ankle, trying to wrench him away and free his hand. Richard was unfazed. He leaned down slightly, pressing down even harder on Klaus’s hand, making Klaus whimper in pain.

“Don’t you ever break into my house and gate-crash my party ever again, you good-for-nothing junkie whore.” He spat, and Klaus flinched at the globule of saliva that landed on his cheek.

_”I heard a rumour that everyone but Klaus left.”_

The pressure on his hand disappeared, and Klaus gave a cry of relief as he curled in on himself, shaking uncontrollably.

The floor seemed to vibrate as everyone got up and headed towards the door, sweeping past Klaus without a second glance. He listened as the footsteps faded, until there was silence in the vast apartment.

Then came the sound of heels crossing the hard wooden flooring, and Klaus felt someone kneel down beside him and a warm hand running across his back.

“Are you okay?” Allison asked softly.

Klaus tensed at the sound of her voice, letting the warmth of her palm seep through him for just a few seconds longer before he uncurled and shuffled away from her. He narrowed his eyes at her. “What was it that tipped you over the edge? Was it the hand stomping or the name calling?”

Allison frowned, looking confused for a moment, before realisation seemed to dawn and she looked angry and offended. “Klaus, I wasn’t watching!” Klaus gave her a disbelieving look. “I was-” Her cheeks pinked a little. “I was with Patrick. I didn’t know anything was happening until Anya Barclay came in and told me they were hurting you.”

“Who?” Klaus asked, shaking his head.

“The girl you were talking to before? Skinny? High?”

“Oh.” Klaus cast a look at the door, wondering after the waif of a girl who was brave enough to interrupt Allison having sex, just to protect Klaus. He wondered if he’d be able to find her again, and thank her.

Allison released a shuddering breath and twisted around so she was sat on the rug. She kicked off her shoes and rubbed at the balls of her feet. “You should have left when I told you to.”

Klaus snapped his head up to look at her. “You wanted me to leave because I was embarrassing you. Don’t go pretending you had noble motives.”

“I wanted you to leave because you came here with the sole intention of embarrassing me,” Allison shot back.

“Yeah, well. You have shitty friends.”

“They’re not my friends, they’re…”

“People you’d rather hang out with than me,” Klaus finished for her. “I know.”

There was silence in which Allison conspicuously didn’t deny the accusation. Klaus cradled his bruised hand to his chest, eyes darting around for the lost oxy.

Allison sighed, pulled her knees up to her chest and hugged them. “This isn’t about not wanting to hang out with you, Klaus. We’ve both made decisions and our lives have taken different directions. There’s no room for us in each other’s lives anymore.”

Klaus laughed bleakly. “You’re more than welcome to come into my life and get so high that the wallpaper starts to crawl and then pass out in a crack house if you like.”

Allison’s lips pressed together in the same way that Ben’s did when Klaus said something he found morally repulsive and he was trying very hard to keep his reaction to himself. He glanced around looking for the ghost in question, wondering if he and Allison would like to team up and judge him together. Ben was mysteriously absent, though, and Klaus wondered if Allison’s Rumour had worked on him.

“We’re different people, Klaus,” Allison said softly, diplomatically.

“Yeah,” Klaus said, giving her a sickly sweet smile. “You have champagne and designer dresses and the adoration of the rich and famous. I have, well…” He looked down at himself, noticing his fly was still undone but being unable to summon the energy to close it. He gestured at himself with a flourish. “This.”

Allison looked at him steadily. “And whose fault is that, Klaus?”

Klaus narrowed his eyes. “Whose fault is what? The fact that I have ghosts following me around wherever I go? The fact that I spent my childhood being abused by a sadistic monster?”

He could feel fury building up in him in a way that he’d never felt before. He’d never been an angry person, choosing instead to brush off any insult. But there was something about tonight; perhaps he was tired of being literally walked all over.

“We all have powers, Klaus. We were all treated like shit by Dad. You can blame everyone else for what happened to you, but when it really comes down to it, it’s your shitty decisions that have brought you where you are today.”

It was the fact that she was so calm, like she thought Klaus was being hysterical and irrational, and that she was a beacon of objectivity and common sense, that really riled Klaus up.

“Your power is that you can literally get people to do whatever you want. I have _corpses_ following me around!”

“Well maybe if you’d paid attention in training and actually learned to control them-”

“No!” Klaus said, clambering to his feet, tears pricking in his eyes. “You can’t blame poor character or goddamn laziness. The truth is, you lucked out on the powers lottery and you think that makes you better than me, you always have.”

Allison got to her feet as well, jaw set and eyes wild. “See, this is your problem, Klaus. You think everyone else got where they are out of pure luck. You think I haven’t had to work hard to get all this?”

“I think you Rumoured your way to a perfect life,” Klaus said, voice thick with spite.

“I did what I had to do. I used every advantage I had because there were so many people who told me no.” Allison’s fists were clenched and Klaus wondered if she was going to punch him. She had always beaten him in training, but his body was crying out for a good physical altercation right now.

“You’re the perfect embodiment of the American Dream, yeah, I know,” Klaus sneered.

Allison raised her eyebrows, and gave a huff of disbelieving laughter. She took a step closer to Klaus and he prepared himself to be hit. When she spoke, her voice was low and tight.

“Do you realise how many times I’ve been turned down for the romantic lead in a film because I’m too 'urban'?” She made angry air quotes at the word. “Whatever the fuck that means. Or how about the number of directors and produces that have invited me up to their hotel rooms to 'discuss my career'? Or even how every day, people are constantly touching my body without my consent?”

Klaus stared at her. She wasn’t done.

“I could Rumour everyone in Hollywood and I would still have to put up with all that shit. Because I may have _lucked out_ with my power, but to them I am _just_ a black woman. And that makes me worth less.”

Her voice hadn’t risen, but she was breathing heavily now, like she had just run a marathon. Klaus swallowed, knowing he would regret what he was about to say. “You chose that career path- _not_ that you deserve any of that. Of course you don’t,” he quickly amended, seeing the murderous look Allison was giving him. “What I mean is, you could have done anything, because you’re clever and tenacious. Why choose to get involved in the absolute cesspit of racism and sexism that is Hollywood when you could have done literally anything else?”

He held up his hands at the look on her face. “I’m not trying to be a dick,” he said. “It’s just… these people are shitty. I’ve spent three hours with them, and I know that. Why would you willingly put yourself through that every day?”

The tension seemed to melt out of Allison’s frame and she suddenly looked very tired. She sighed again, and sat down on the settee. Klaus perched on the chair across from her. “Because I need it. It’s hard to describe but… there’s nothing else that gives me that feeling of- of being _seen_.” She slumped back on the settee, looking not like Allison the movie star, but Allison his sister and his friend, lying upside down on her bed and moaning that Dad wouldn’t let her get any more makeup.

“People I’ve never met know my name, recognise my face. People go out of their way to give me stuff and make me comfortable. They respect me because they know me, or think they know me. I walk into a room and people look at me. I inspire awe, not because I’m powerful, or because I saved the day, but because I’m there, and they see me, and recognise me.”

She stared up at the high ceilings, silent for a moment, and Klaus waited. “I can’t describe that need to be seen. It’s like something deep inside me crying out for it, and when I don’t have it, I feel less- less myself. Like if I’m not seen, I’ll just fade away.”

Klaus looked down at his purpling hand, at the tremors that ran through both hands. He thought of the pill lying somewhere hidden in the rug, how he’d debased and humiliated himself to get to it, the constant, itching need in the back of his mind for more, more, _more_. “I get it,” he said quietly. “That sounds… familiar.”

He watched as Allison tensed, then lifted her head slowly up to look at him, eyes wide. She stared at him for a full minute. Then, “fuck.”

It rang out in the silence of the empty apartment. Klaus gave her a weak smile.

“Fuck,” she repeated.

Klaus forced a laugh. “You know, for someone so eloquent, words really fail you when you’re having a revelation, don’t they?”

Allison looked five seconds away from a breakdown. She buried her face in her hands, shoulders rising and falling as she breathed through it.

Klaus got up, knelt down on the rug, and started running his hands across it, searching for his own salvation. “Don’t worry,” he said. “Being an addict isn’t so bad.” He brought his face low down to the floor, peering beneath the furniture, until he finally spotted it, lying there underneath the settee.

He crawled over to it, feeling blindly until he felt it beneath his fingers, and snatched it towards him. He held it between his finger and thumb, grimacing at the flecks of dust on it. He blew them off. “You can tell Richard that his house is dusty,” he said to Allison, who was watching him with an unreadable expression on her face.

He stood up, looking around. “You can also tell him that this good-for-nothing junkie whore is going to rob him blind.”

He started making away around the apartment, pocketing everything that looked expensive and pawnable. Richard had a lot of pretentious shit, including some nice black boots that were only a little big on Klaus.

While he was in Richard’s bedroom, contemplating shitting on his bed, he heard movement behind him, and turned to see Allison leaning against the doorframe. She didn’t look particularly perturbed by the criminal acts that were being carried out under her nose, just curious.

“How long do you think before your Rumour wears off and they all come back wondering why they took the party outside?”

Allison shrugged. “It’s hard to tell. When I’m not specific it has varying effects.”

Klaus grinned. “So you’re telling me he might not be able to get back into his house?”

Allison considered this. “Potentially. It’s unlikely, but possible, I suppose.”

Klaus flounced past in his new boots. “I’m going to raid the bar.”

While he was shoving bottles into every pocket his coat had, Allison poured herself a drink, and sat on a stool sipping on it and watching him.

When he could carry no more, he hovered for a second, casting awkward glances at Allison. “Well this is it. It’s been, uh, awful, not gonna lie.” She smiled. “I’ll see you, Ally, whenever.”

He turned on his heel and headed towards the door. As he opened it, he paused as Allison called out to him. “Klaus?” He popped his head back into the apartment. She had stood up from the stool. “Next time I see you… I don’t want it to be on a slab in the morgue, okay?”

Klaus blinked rapidly at her, something blocking his throat. “I’ll try,” he whispered, then vanished out of the door, the cold air stinging his eyes as his swallowed down his last pill.

**Author's Note:**

> Pre-Claire Allison is so much fun to write because it is Allison at the height of her power, but also Allison with pretty limited empathy. She's an Allison who could so easily embrace much darker impulses if she wasn't driven by what all the Hargreeves children are - the desire to be loved. I just love her so much, okay.
> 
> Anyhoo, if you read and enjoyed this, please drop me a kudos or a comment!


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